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After a strong start to 2024, the first-quarter Western North Carolina real estate market is showing mixed signals. Interest rates remain steady around 7%, and many homeowners are hesitant to leave properties secured with lower rates. That said, indicators suggest that a shift toward a more balanced market between [...]
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There is an air of optimism as we march into the beginning stages of 2024. This is due, in large part, to the news that interest rates have begun to decline from a high 7% to the mid-6% range. While sellers in our market have continued to benefit from low inventories over the past year, the market itself slogged along as fewer sellers sold [...]
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Buncombe, McDowell, and Burke County Market Trends
The fall leaf season is here, and while the seasons are seeing their colorful shift in our beautiful mountains, real estate trends remain on a similar trajectory as the trends we observed in Q2. Overall, we are seeing fewer new listings. Prices remain relatively stable despite lowered demand [...]
As the summer months heat up, the typical seasonal increases in inventory have occurred in the Greater Asheville Area real estate market. However, supply is still low. Second-quarter real estate numbers have largely mimicked the previous quarter in a home sales landscape of persistently high-interest rates, questions about the economy, and fewer homeowners looking to sell.
Buncombe County
The Buncombe County market has seen a 23% decrease in home sales year to date compared to 2022. Inventories remain low. As of this update, there are only 650 homes for sale in Buncombe County, less than the already low 662 homes that were available in 2022. The cause of the inventory difference is a decrease in new listings. We speculate that homeowners are (still) reluctant to list their homes and give up the lower mortgage rates they currently enjoy. Average and median sales prices have remained slightly above 2022 in correlation to the low inventory. In June, the average sale price was around $595,000.
View our Asheville and Black Mountain homes for sale.
McDowell County
McDowell County trends mirror Buncombe County except for the average sales price which is down 15% year to date, compared to 2022. The average price in June was $337,000. Median prices are also down 9%. There is not a clear indication of what is causing the decrease in prices given that supply is down–with only 80 homes on the market. The trend with pricing activity in correlation with inventory will be an important metric to track in the coming months.
View our Old Fort homes for sale.
Burke County
Of the three counties reviewed in this market update, Burke County’s real estate market appears the strongest. Average prices are up 9% over
2022. June’s average prices ended at nearly $295,000. Inventories are down 19%–102 homes on the market last year compared to 83 this year. Closings are down nearly 17% year to date, while new listings are 12.6% lower than last year. Burke continues to operate as a seller’s market.
View our Lake James homes for sale.
Conclusion
Unlike previous real estate slowdown cycles, sales prices, for the most part, have remained steady or slightly up. Supply has remained low as fewer homeowners list their homes as they attempt to wait out interest rate increases. With interest rates approaching 7%, we do anticipate this trend to continue for the next few months.
To view all of our homes for sale in these areas, click here.
After a few record-setting years for the Western North Carolina real estate market, the latter months of 2022 and early 2023 have left many questioning if the narrative might be shifting, if only slightly. Inventories have remained low which has kept prices relatively stable in our market, even amidst the ongoing backdrop of economic and [...]
Hindsight is 20/20, and with 2022 in the rearview mirror, the climate of the Western North Carolina real estate market is becoming clearer as we kick off the first quarter of 2023. In 2022, we began to see increasing signs of an overheating market that was beginning to cool amidst the backdrop of sharply rising interest rates – not to [...]
As we close out the 3rd quarter and enter the final stretch of 2022, it likely comes as no surprise that the impact of rising interest rates is becoming more evident in our market. While there are signs of softening demand in the Western North Carolina real estate market, low [...]
While the Western North Carolina real estate market is still in a strong position, there is no doubt that a lot has changed since Q1 of 2022. Since our last update, interest rates have continued to climb, inflation and recession concerns have persisted, and global and economic [...]
What does it look like when a red hot real estate market is overheating? A case could be made that this is the very state of the Asheville area and Western North Carolina market as summer nears and demand continues to exceed supply. While we know that similar trends have been seen [...]
In real estate, 2021 ended in a similar way that it began. Soaring demand for our mountain region has led to competitive, multiple offer situations and decreasing days on market. Rising prices have been met with a willingness from buyers to pay those prices (and beyond) to secure [...]
